Monday, July 30, 2007


I am first and formost a citizen of the planet Earth. Next I guess would be the USA and thirdly would be the state of Arkansas.
Someone was asking if I thought Arkansas would be a good place to live. Now what is or isn't good depends a lot on the individual. However, I am including my opinion --- which is generalized by this map.
South East of the line is probably great if you are an employer looking for low skilled workforce that you can pay a low wage.
The economy in SE Arkansas is much worse than the rest of the state. Now there are places Northwest of the line that are depressed and places Southeast of the line that are prosperous, so this is not a hard and fast line.
There are also places to the Southeast that are beautiful. However a lot of it is just mile upon mile of coastal plain planted in rice and soybeans. Atleast unlike the great plains (which do have their own beauty if you don't mind the monotony) there are some lakes and forrests. The western 1/2 of South Arkansas is Timberland so some of it is quite beautiful if a bit flat.
Northwest of that line the weather is less hot and less humid. The Northwest is also quite scenic. South of the Arkansas river and northwest of the line you have the Ouchita Mountians which are the only range in the nation which run East to West which means that you have different climates on the north face of the mountians than the south face.... and thus different ecologies. If you live on the north side of a mountian you can also expect more snow and cooler temps. Thus you could live 5 miles from your best friend and have totally different climate. The highest mountians in Arkansas are all in the Ouchitas.
The more famous Ozark Mountians are actually an eroded plateau, and are the oldest mountians in the USA. They are also beautiful, but in a different way than the Ouchitas.
Anyway... that is my two-bits about which regions of Arkansas I prefer.
If I ever run for state-wide office this may haunt me as far as the Delta vote is concerned, but maybe not.